Honestly... I had a hard time justifying the bolt action price of a Ruger 77 22 Hornet that I reciently bought new ( or any similarly priced gun, really ) ... however, lately I've been wanting a bolt action 22 RFM, & noticed that several of the 22 lr bolt guns cost about the same as what I paid for the Hornet... are you guys buying these rifles at this price ???

I have a pretty nicely outfitted 10-22 ( laminated thumbhole stock, Tech sights, etc.... not "tactikool", but plenty accurate ) that shoots nice, & I don't have but a fraction of the cost of a Ruger 77-22 in 22lr...

I could see buying a new bolt gun, but at those costs, I think I'll just start shooting my old CZ bolt action 22 lr more if I start getting the itch... is there some way to justify the cost of the bolt gun, over a lightly modded cheap ol 10-22

I have a 77/22 with open sites made in 1984 IIRC I bought used off GB for $400.05 with shipping and transfer. It will shoot 1/2" groups at 50 yards with federal bulk ammo. Much better than internet reports had me expecting.

I wish I could find a 77/22 mag with open sites for around the same money. I did find one on GB about a year ago and drug my feet and let it get away.

I have two Marlin bolts, a 783 blue/walnut and an 883 SS/laminated. They are very accurate rifles that will shoot 1 1/2" groups or smaller sometimes at 100 yards. The 783 I paid $115 new in 1983 and the 883 I bought at a pawnshop a couple of years ago for $140 OTD. It was like new without a blemish on it. It had been fired but I bet not more than a 100 rounds. I don't think they knew what they had.

For ammo try some of the Armscor 22 mag. It shoots to the same POI as winchester 40gr loads and I have never had a misfire like I sometimes get with winchester. Armscor makes the 22 mag ammo for Fiocchi that everyone thinks so much of. Ever so often Sportsman Guide runs it on sale. I bought 4000 rounds when they had it for less than $6 a box of 50. Good luck finding some now.

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Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?

I would probably just find myself a used Marlin .22 if I was going to buy myself a bolt action .22, I would expect to pay $200-250 on it.

I get sub moa performance from my Marlin .17 HMR that I paid $250 for. Maybe I just got lucky with it, but it does its job very well and I didn't have to pay a whole lot for it. Single hole groups at 75 yards is a pretty regular thing if I do my job. Model is the 917v, bought it used. Like the poster above, the rifle was barely used and I don't think the original owner knew what they had.

for the difference in price between a 10/22 and a 77/22($500 give or take) I would have to shoot roughly 25,000 rounds out of the 10/22 where as the 77/22 is just getting sighted in. I would never call that a smarter investment. all of the trigger control and shooting discipline that you learn with a bolt action you can also learn on a semi auto, the semi does make it easier to shoot up your ammo in a hurry but 25,000 rounds still takes a heckuva long time to shoot not matter the gun.

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ignore my complete lack of capitalization. I still have no problem correcting your grammar.
I never said half the stuff people said I did-Albert Einstein
You can't believe everything you read on the internet-Benjamin Franklin

I guess I never understood the rationale that somehow it makes less sense to pay extra money for a rimfire rifle than it does a centerfire rifle. The way I look at it, there's no reason not to put some extra money into a .22 as opposed to any centerfire rifle. After all, which rifle are you apt to use more often and, thus, be able to appreciate more in terms of any custom features/work you might have paid for?
I'm still lusting for a Cooper .22 rifle...

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ONLY AN ARMED PEOPLE CAN BE TRULY FREE ; ONLY AN UNARMED PEOPLE CAN EVER BE ENSLAVED
...Aristotle
NRA Benefactor Life Member

had a cz452 varmint--best, most accurate rifle i and my son (&friends) ever shot. great for learning, bonding and cheap to shoot. only sold it because of a move which left me no place to shoot. would recommend a bolt 22 like what i had or similar.

It really depends on the itch that needs to be scratched as to the price some of us are willing to pay.

Some years back, I bought a TC, "Classic" on the strength of their ads which said it would shoot 1/2" 50yd groups and had a match grade trigger.

Well mine didn't/wouldn't and after a trip back to the factory, after which it came back and jammed on the first clip of ammo, it went down the road.

My itch still needed to be scratched with a .22 that would proform!

I looked at Kimbers, nice! and slobbered over Coopers and mean while I heard about a Clark Custom 77/22 that was sitting in Spokane.

Well it sat there for awhile as I continued to look and slobber until I finally had a chance to see and check the trigger for myself.

The rifle came new from Clark at $785 shipped to a fellow in NE Washington and he quickly traded it because of weight. Apparently un-fired.

I bought it for $600. Lot of money for a .22, at least for this Ol'Boy but from the first it shot like I desired and did so with a good number of different ammos. Great trigger and tiny groups!

Three or 4 summers ago, a friend and I had a shoot off/shoot out, he with his Savage single shot semi-targer rifle and me with the CRuger.

The first go around we shot mostly target ammo, including Lapua and Eley and when we finished, Jack's rifle had shot so very well with the match ammo I began to wonder at the investment I had in my rifle and scope.

Then, we had a second go round, and this time with typical "off the shelf" .22 ammo and I had my answer.

This time, Jack's rifle lagged far behind the Clark with it's Walther barrel while shooting with this lower quality level of ammo, clearly showing the difference in rifle quality.

Now as most of us know, we can usually, by testing, find an ammo that will shoot at least reasonably well in many if not most .22 rifles.

However, if your itch is scratched by a rifle that finds many brands and types of .22s to it's liking and shoots quite a few of those into tiny 50yd groups, will it just may cost a bit more then the run of the mill, off the shelf .22.

Not putting anyone's rifle choice down here, but am saying that for some of us, the itch may cost a bit more to cure then for others.

There are several Marlin bolt action .22s in my family, and there have been a few others that were sold off (regrettably).
All of them have been fantastic shooters. The older triggers sucked, and the rifles might have some teething pains during 'break in'. But, they get the job done nicely. (I took care of the trigger, on my own.)

My own Marlin 882 (.22 WMR) is an absolute blast to shoot. It's accurate, fun, light weight, and easy for anyone to shoot. For a long time, it was my go-to rimfire. I'm sure it has more rabbits and squirrels under its belt, than any other firearm I have ever owned.

However.... my wife (working with Cornbush and Crankylove) decided to spoil me with a Ruger 77/22. It was well worth the cost. It has a real receiver and a properly-installed barrel (threaded and torqued); rather than just a section of tube with a barrel that's pinned, press-fit, or held in by some kind of v-block or clamp. And, the flush-fitting magazines are quite nice, when carrying the rifle (instead of stabbing me in the back, with every step).

With crappy ammo, it's better than most other .22 LRs; if only marginally. But, with quality ammo, it'll keep right up with some of my centerfire rifles, at 100 yards.

As I said, it was worth the cost.
My only complaints are:
1. Iron sights! I wanted iron sights, but Ruger doesn't even offer the option, any more.
2. The trigger isn't the best. I took care of mine, on my own; but most people would probably end up dropping some change on an after-market trigger, or a gunsmith's trigger job.
3. The magazines (like the 10/22) are annoying to carry. After a lot of debate, and actually returning 2 separately-purchased spare magazines, I decided to just stick with the one factory magazine. I just carry spare ammo, instead of spare magazines, while squirrel/rabbit hunting.

Sadly, my beloved Marlin 882 rarely comes out of the safe, any more. I always grab the 77/22, instead. Even 'handicapping' myself with .22 LR, instead of .22 WMR, the better rifle wins.

__________________"Such is the strange way that man works -- first he virtually destroys a species and then does everything in his power to restore it."

My Marlin trigger is great and the accuracy is great, but I am wearing out the receiver where the bolt rides. I have shot it quite a bit, but not more than 10,000 rounds(I had a blued one before they made a stainless that saw about the same). I am very disappointed. No thoughts of sending it back to the factory at this point considering the mess they have.

Cabelas offers a double mag puch for the 10/22 that goes on sale occasionally for something like $10. I bought two and love them.

Factoring in the cost and time of shooting/reloading for the Enfields, Garand, (down to 2,000 rds. for the SKS), the M-69 "Mini Mauser" is one of my favorite guns and is pretty accurate for hitting small objects at up to 50 or more yards in the mud.

About six months ago it cost $100 at a small southern gun show, with an excellent bore. Destroying a small bottle from 30 yards requires no fancy gear.

I guess I am one of those people that buys high priced 22s. I already own a Ruger target grey 77/22, a Ruger stainless 77/22, a custom Rem 580, and a Rem 541T. My next purchase is a Remington 504, they're about $500 dollars. So should I buy two or three cheap 22s at $250 to $300 dollars, or should I just buy one at $500 ? I don't know, you figure it out.

This is a very under-rated little rifle imo. Some complained about the lack of accuracy from the model 504 but mine shoots just fine. I've got a 4x Nikon "ProStaff" mounted on my model 504. Even though they have been discontinued now for a couple of years, it wasn't that long ago that I saw them still on the shelves of some dealers and at gun shows nib.

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ONLY AN ARMED PEOPLE CAN BE TRULY FREE ; ONLY AN UNARMED PEOPLE CAN EVER BE ENSLAVED
...Aristotle
NRA Benefactor Life Member

Depends on what your taste's are. Some folks drive Fords, some Lincoln's.

My 77/22 was pricey 10-12 years ago, but I do not regret the expense. I shoot it more than any rifle I own, and nothing has changed on it. The mag/feeding remains the same, the trigger is great (Volq sear) and it has stayed zeroed. The quality, appearance and durability is worth it to me. They are .22's that will last several lifetimes even with heavy use.

Some of the .22's at priced lower will not display the reliability, and will wear with heavy use.

I figure that for around $2k I can have a pretty good .22 OR a pretty good .308. For the cost of ammo I can shoot the smaller gun about 350 times or the bigger gun about 20 times.

With either gun, the scope will cost more than the gun. Heck the base and rings are nearly the price of the gun. Anything you add to one, add to the other (bipod, sling etc) all that stuff costs the same for either caliber.

I've had an "early" CZ452 Varmint and had a difficult time getting it to shoot well. I finally free-floated the barrel and bedded the action. That made all the difference, but it wasn't the rifle for me.

A a year or so ago, I bought a new/used CZ455, .22WMR and it had problems that I corrected, including bedding, firing pin shape, and trigger pull. It now shoots MOA at 100 yards with the right ammo, but with other ammos varies from 1 1/4 to 3 MOA. I was immediately attracted to the woodgrain of this rifle and apparent newness in the used gun rack. It's lightness and accuracy make it my favorite walk-about rifle.

The 455 is a switch-barrel design, but because I never intend to shoot either .17 HMR or .22LR in it, I LockTite-d the barrel in with Steeve and Bearing Mount. It worked for my Ruger 10-22, and seems to have helped the 455.

Spendy .22s?
When I retired, I bought this rifle for myself. I had wanted it for years. I have not regretted the purchase for a moment.
Anschutz model 1827 with a Fortner straight pull bolt. It cost a lot then. It is even more nowadays.
Pete

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“Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games.” Ernest Hemingway ...
NRA Life Member

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